http://mmajunkie.comNOTTINGHAM, England – Che Mills was in control, but ultimately it was a leg injury that did in Duane “Bang” Ludwig.

After Mills’ early takedown and controlling top game, Ludwig escaped to his feet, only to fall back to the mat due to an apparent left-leg injury, which resulted in his verbal submission and a first-round TKO loss.

The welterweight bout opened Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 5 main card at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England. The fight aired on FUEL TV following prelims on Facebook.

Manuwa scored an early takedown and worked from side control and then the mount while peppering his opponent with strikes. Once Ludwig escaped, the fighters jockeyed for position against the cage, but Ludwig then dropped to his back and held up his hands in submission before grabbing his thigh and knee in clear pain.

The verbal grunt resulted in the referee’s intervention and an official TKO via injury at the 3:28 mark of the opening round.

Manuwa, who was clearly disappointed by the dubious victory, said he didn’t necessarily have a game plan, at least not one he could implement so quickly.

“The takedown was there, so I took it,” the British fighter said before addressing the crowd. “I’m back home. It’s great. I love you guys.”

Ludwig was helped out of the cage, and the extent of his injury wasn’t immediately clear. It marked the second time he suffered a TKO loss due to an injury; he also injured his ankle in a 2010 loss to Darren Elkins.

Mills (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) successfully rebounds from an April loss to Rory MacDonald and picks up his sixth win in seven fights. Ludwig (21-14 MMA, 4-5 UFC), meanwhile, has now dropped three straight and five of his past seven.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?